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Killington to Replace North Ridge (Glades) Triple Chair

Killingtime

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Interesting. I don't think I've ever waited more than a minute or two to get on that lift even on busy days. Maybe the triple is just coming to the end of its lifespan?
 

benski

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Interesting. I don't think I've ever waited more than a minute or two to get on that lift even on busy days. Maybe the triple is just coming to the end of its lifespan?

That lift looks really old. It has that weird basement motor room setup.

Also this lift is a Poma the design includes a drawing of the powered terminal which looks like the heavens gate chair from 1983. After 35 years you would think they would have made some changes.
 

gregnye

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While the lift doesn't see much traffic during the midseason, it is the primary lift through all of October, November and sometimes even parts of December. There have been times where the line during early season is 10-15 minutes long just to get on the chairlift. I bet it has reached the end of its useful life.
 

Smellytele

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Right where I want to be
While the lift doesn't see much traffic during the midseason, it is the primary lift through all of October, November and sometimes even parts of December. There have been times where the line during early season is 10-15 minutes long just to get on the chairlift. I bet it has reached the end of its useful life.

sometimes longer than 10-15. The real issue there early season is the lift line configuration is a little hokey. I hope they reconfigure the loading/lift line.
 

thetrailboss

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One might think Powdr’s owner came into an inheritance or something.....


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jaybird

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A quad there makes sense early season but it wont make much of a dent if K is the only 1 open. Mid winter that is mainly doubles/singles.
Glade and Snowdon triple are serious battle wagon lifts. Amazed they have lasted this long without major issues.
 

gregnye

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Application suggests that it will be a bottom-drive lift. I wonder why? The current one is top-drive, and Canyon Quad is top-drive
 

ss20

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A minute from the Alta exit off the I-15!
Great to see more investment in the mighty K!!!

Now Killington will have 3 8-person gondolas, 1 bubble-six, 4 high-speed quads, and 4 fixed-grip quads. That is a crazy amount of capacity to get asses on the hill! Better get a bigger parking lot!!!
 

deadheadskier

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Great to see more investment in the mighty K!!!

Now Killington will have 3 8-person gondolas, 1 bubble-six, 4 high-speed quads, and 4 fixed-grip quads. That is a crazy amount of capacity to get asses on the hill! Better get a bigger parking lot!!!
Sarcasm?

Don't get me wrong, I want ski areas to be profitable, but I don't root for greater masses of people like that. Not looking to experience Manhattan on a hillside.

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ss20

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A minute from the Alta exit off the I-15!
Sarcasm?

Don't get me wrong, I want ski areas to be profitable, but I don't root for greater masses of people like that. Not looking to experience Manhattan on a hillside.

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Ehhhh...I don't go to Killington (or anywhere in ski country) any weekend day Christmas vacation-mid March. So it doesn't affect me. But the more money the mountain makes those peak weekends the longer they stay open for me late March and April.

I am still in awe of the capacity of the place and its infrastructure. Even though it's been at least 5 years since I've been there on a mid-winter weekend.
 

deadheadskier

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Cool. Got it.

I just so often see big Killington fans get so excited about more and more development and wanting more and more visitors. It's always been that way with their clientele since I started skiing there in the mid 80s.

Wanting your home ski area to become even more crowded with people is such a foreign concept to me. It's like rooting for more traffic in your flatlands home to have a second Panera Bread in town.

Don't get me wrong I want all ski areas to have a profitable and sustainable business. But I go to ski areas to escape the concrete jungle, not for it to follow me there.

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ss20

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A minute from the Alta exit off the I-15!
Cool. Got it.

I just so often see big Killington fans get so excited about more and more development and wanting more and more visitors. It's always been that way with their clientele since I started skiing there in the mid 80s.

Wanting your home ski area to become even more crowded with people is such a foreign concept to me. It's like rooting for more traffic in your flatlands home to have a second Panera Bread in town.

Don't get me wrong I want all ski areas to have a profitable and sustainable business. But I go to ski areas to escape the concrete jungle, not for it to follow me there.

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Very true...but their guest numbers generate sustainability and/or expansion of product. For example, I was at Magic yesterday and there was 100-150 people there. And they were running Red and Green chairs. That has to be a heavy loss of $$ for the mountain, and I was hoping with the fresh snow there'd be more people. This becomes relevant again in the spring so areas push for another open weekend if they can maintain good numbers.

You referenced people rooting for Killington in the 80s...well that decade saw the expansion of Bear, Sunrise, and Superstar areas because they had the huge skier visits. The result was highly tangible assets like a new mountain area....or in this case...a new lift for 2019-2020.

So...in some cases...I do "root" for ski areas to pull in a good crowd.
 

deadheadskier

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Very true...but their guest numbers generate sustainability and/or expansion of product. For example, I was at Magic yesterday and there was 100-150 people there. And they were running Red and Green chairs. That has to be a heavy loss of $$ for the mountain, and I was hoping with the fresh snow there'd be more people. This becomes relevant again in the spring so areas push for another open weekend if they can maintain good numbers.

You referenced people rooting for Killington in the 80s...well that decade saw the expansion of Bear, Sunrise, and Superstar areas because they had the huge skier visits. The result was highly tangible assets like a new mountain area....or in this case...a new lift for 2019-2020.

So...in some cases...I do "root" for ski areas to pull in a good crowd.
Opinions vary, but I preferred the terrain at Killington pre Superstar and Canyon chairs. So, I don't really consider anything built there from about 1985 on an improvement. That's not to say that I think the SS and Canyon chairs are bad things, but the trail design to put those in was/is awful. Straight, super wide trails do nothing for me.

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gregnye

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Great to see more investment in the mighty K!!!

Now Killington will have 3 8-person gondolas, 1 bubble-six, 4 high-speed quads, and 4 fixed-grip quads. That is a crazy amount of capacity to get asses on the hill! Better get a bigger parking lot!!!


I actually find K's capacity to be pretty reasonable. Each lift services it's own terrain pod. Yes there are some serviced by two lifts (snowshed, Snowdon, Needles area, Canyon), but I don't feel that the lifts alone makes the mountain feel crowded on the weekends--instead it is the amount of trail junctions.

An example: ski down Double Dipper or Cascade and it's usually not too crowded. However, ski through the north ridge an it's really crowded. Both these areas are serviced by a triple, a quad, and a gondola and yet northridge feels like being on a highway on crowded days simply because of all the trail junctions.

Now if you want a mountain with truly redundant lifts, go to Mount Snow! Almost every part of the mountain has two lifts where there could easily just be one. If all the lifts are running and full, just turn around and head elsewhere.
 

jaybird

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+1 on DHS's comment.
Many locals there share this opinion.
Like many resorts .. Saturdays are the issue.
Empty weekdays rule !
 

jmgard

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Very true...but their guest numbers generate sustainability and/or expansion of product. For example, I was at Magic yesterday and there was 100-150 people there. And they were running Red and Green chairs. That has to be a heavy loss of $$ for the mountain, and I was hoping with the fresh snow there'd be more people. This becomes relevant again in the spring so areas push for another open weekend if they can maintain good numbers.

You referenced people rooting for Killington in the 80s...well that decade saw the expansion of Bear, Sunrise, and Superstar areas because they had the huge skier visits. The result was highly tangible assets like a new mountain area....or in this case...a new lift for 2019-2020.

So...in some cases...I do "root" for ski areas to pull in a good crowd.

I was at Magic yesterday too... 100-150 seems generous, the place was empty. Snow was pretty good too, even the tacitly open part of Red Line was fun for a couple laps on rock skis.

I will say, as a Mt. Snow passholder, it is kind of awesome (in the original sense of the word) to see the place running at full bore. The skiing is definitely not amazing when it's that busy, and if I were dropping ~$100 on a day ticket it would not be worth it, but it is cool to see how they crank people through and manage the traffic. I've ridden every lift there except Upper Sundance and Seasons; if those are running you know it's an absolute madhouse. All those weekend people subsidize my $400 pass and ski-on midweek laps so I can't be too mad about it anyway...
 
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